Colombia's chief negotiator in peace talks with the country's largest leftist rebel group on Friday praised Venezuela's role in the process after Caracas threatened to pull out over a diplomatic spat.

"The role of Venezuela has been very important in the dialogue and we do not want this to be interrupted," Humberto de la Calle told Radio Caracol.

Four people have died after drinking home-made alcohol in southern Iran and 298 others were poisoned, the ISNA news agency quoted a local health official as saying on Friday.

"Nine of the victims are in a coma and have lost their vision," said Hamid Najmeddin, adding that 100 of the victims were on dialysis after drinking the alcohol on Wednesday.

Nigeria's military said Friday it had released 58 women and children held in connection with the Islamist insurgency in the country's northeast under a peace gesture announced 10 days ago.

The youngest of the children released in Borno state told journalists at a ceremony announcing the move that he was nine years old. Twenty women and children were released in Borno, while 38 others in neighboring Yobe state.

The Central African Republic has issued an international arrest warrant for former president Francois Bozize, who was ousted by rebels in a March coup, on charges including crimes against humanity, the chief Bangui prosecutor said Friday.

"Since May 29, 2013, an international arrest warrant has been out against... Francois Bozize," Alain Tolmo said, adding that some of the charges fell under the scope of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and included "crimes against humanity and incitement to genocide".

Spanish police seized a boat carrying three tonnes of cocaine in the Atlantic and arrested 21 people including the vessel's Korean captain and Indonesian crew, officials said on Friday.

"National police officers boarded a fishing boat in the Atlantic ocean with more than three tonnes of cocaine in parcels," on Wednesday, a police statement said.

Nigeria's military said Friday it had arrested 56 more Islamist insurgents as part of an ongoing offensive in the country's restive northeast, but provided few other details on the operation.

A military statement said they were arrested in various locations but did not specify where or when. It added that weapons seized included homemade bombs.

The second suspect in the murder of a British soldier in London last week was released from hospital on Friday and taken into custody, Scotland Yard said.

Michael Adebolajo, 28, who was shot and injured by police in the incident on May 22, faces questioning over the killing of Lee Rigby and the attempted murder of a police officer, the force said in a statement.

U.S. President Barack Obama said Friday that NATO will hold a summit next year on the "final chapter" in its Afghan war and on a new training mission for after combat troops withdraw at the end of 2014.

Obama made the announcement as he met NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen for White House talks, also focusing on modernizing the alliance's forces and the need to stabilize Libya's borders.

Pakistan's incoming prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday condemned the latest U.S. drone strike in the country's lawless tribal belt which killed the Taliban's deputy chief.

"The drone attack was not only a violation of the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity, but also an action that has been declared as a violation of international law and the U.N. Charter," said a statement issued by the media cell of Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N party.

Zimbabwe's Constitutional Court on Friday ordered President Robert Mugabe to set a date for crucial elections, which will end an uneasy power-sharing government, before the end of July.

Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku ordered the 89-year-old Mugabe to "proclaim as soon as possible a date for the holding of presidential elections, general elections and elections of members of governing bodies of local authorities".